Losing my long time home

Last week I had the misfortune to read in the newspaper that my landlord was selling the house that I have called home for the past 28 years to be torn down for a proposed Dunkin' Donuts. I had known about the donut store going in on a vacant parcel of land next door to me, the site of a former gas station that closed years ago, but now the franchisee wants to expand the store, include a drive-through and 11 additional parking spaces, meaning the loss of my long time home.I'll be honest, I do not want to move. At all. I have no desire, at this stage of my life, to leave the apartment that I have made my home. Oh, sure, there are things that drive me crazy about living where I do, but what's been nice is that in the past few years, after having renovated both the living room and bedroom many years ago, I finally got a brand new bathroom about two years ago and a newly renovated kitchen that my brother and his girlfriend did last year for me, all of which I now face having to leave. I've looked at other houses that belong to him where I could relocate but at a much steeper rent than what I pay now. One is two streets over, a house with a gorgeous front and back yard, but the apartment available is a tiny three room upstairs efficiency that would be too small for my needs. It has a bathroom, kitchen and a tiny room just big enough for a sofa and nothing else. No, so that ones's out. Up the street from that on a quiet side street is a whole first floor of a house with a living room, bathroom, kitchen, dining room - something I lack now and very much covet - and a bedroom. And a semi-finished basement that was at one time an apartment. Disadvantage: no back yard and it would have a view of the back of the new courthouse, and the front yard is tiny and there are no trees. Advantage, it would have my own personal parking spot that would be mine alone. And it would still be walking distance to downtown. And in the neighborhood, which is where I want to stay.

Another place is just south of downtown, an upstairs one bedroom apartment with central air (!), a deck (!) and it has a huge back yard. I am a bit weary of living upstairs, admittedly, so this is one down side to it. But I need to look at it inside before I decide whether to go to the first floor place near me or the second floor place just south of downtown. Still......had I my druthers, I would not want to move. I have a gnarled old pear tree just outside of my living room window here that is heavy with pears right now. Underneath it is a lilac bush. I may take cuttings from both to transplant to the new place, wherever that may be, so I can take part of this place with me that I love so much. I just hate the idea of losing the place I have called home for most of my adult life. I am settled here and planned to stay indefinitely. I also cannot afford higher rent and all utilities. I had planned to retire next year and use the money from the car being paid off to cushion my retirement. Now I don't know what I am going to do or whether I can retire or no, because what if I end up needing a new car? I won't be able to buy new, that's for sure. I would probably end up having to go with yet another old used car like I used to drive. I'm just so weary of struggling financially. I am weary of a job where raises are as rare as hen's teeth and where no more are expected. Ever. I can't live on a 1990s era income, and that's precisely what I have been forced to do as I watch prices skyrocket on everything. This has been a lost decade, income wise, for everybody in the middle class, while the richest of the rich have done exceptionally well for themselves. Unfortunately, from what I read today in the newspaper, this recession is so deep, so profound, that it will take an entire generation from which to recover fully,. meaning no matter who we elect to office, all they can do is to keep pumping money back into the system to try to stimulate it and hope that it works, because as we all know too well, you have to spend money to make money. Well, if it's going to take a generation, don't expect to see low unemployment numbers again until sometime well into the 2030s. By then, I will be in my 70s and I don't feel like waiting that long before getting a raise. So I guess I will go ahead and retire next year, if for no other reason than to save money on driving and parking costs that I incur now. With gas at $4.00 a gallon again, it's getting too expensive to drive to work and pay for parking. So I will retire just to save the $200 a month commuting cost. And hope that it is enough to make the bills when I am forced to move to a far more expensive apartment. This sucks. I don't want to move. I like living right where I am, thank you. Anybody want to buy a 100 year old house with three apartments of female tenants who take good care of the place? It's valued at $114,000, but if you offer my landlord even more (because I know that Dunkin' is probably offering him some sort of sweetheart deal to get out of his rental house), he may take it and then YOU can be our landlord (or lady). Seriously. I'm not kidding, either. I'm not eager to move, neither are my fellow tenants, so......if you are interested, it's a lovely, sturdy historic home built 100 years ago. It would make a nice investment property so long as you weren't interested in using it to sell a bunch of tenants downriver to the highest bidder. I just don't want to lose the only place I've called home since my mid 20s. I can't afford market rate rents out there. I need to stay here in order to survive financially.